But the fight isn't only defensive. Students, teachers and parents are also behind a movement that is pushing for things they want from education, as well as trying to stop the measures - like the closures - that they oppose.

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is one of More Than a Score's supporters and has said that it wholeheartedly supports the fight against non-state standardized tests, a position that Jen Johnson, a history teacher at Lincoln Park High School and a member of the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) steering committee, says is part of the CTU's larger goal of social justice unionism.

"It's fairly safe to say that school closings are more than a bread-and-butter battle," and so are issues of over-testing, said Johnson.

Testing Hits a Nerve

Chicago is not the first city to have a not-so-subterranean rumble against testing. That mantle goes to Seattle, where one high school's boycott of the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test in January opened the door to letters of solidarity from around the country and a growing consensus that students may be over-tested.

Johnson attributes the rising anger at testing to the "rapid escalation of the use of testing. It has been strong-armed into schools across the country," and how it is "being used to blame all the stakeholders."

Under NCLB, states were required to develop math and reading standards and test children in grades 3 through 8. NCLB also requires schools to "disaggregate" the testing data, a process PBS describes as "designed to close the so-called 'achievement gap' between highly proficient students and under-served, less proficient students by eliminating distortions and variations masked by school-wide averages."

But in her experience, says Johnson, the testing regime only perpetuates inequalities.

Research on standardized testing and inequality has found testing reinforces inequality. Paul Thomas of Furman University has been vocal about tests as a reflection of socioeconomic conditions and says that the emphasis on testing legitimizes this inequality of opportunity.

Rather than receiving the counseling and learning that vulnerable students need, says Johnson, they are given stressful tests, for which teachers in turn face harsh judgment when results are not satisfactory.

"Measuring outcomes through standardized testing and referring to those results as the evidence of learning and the bottom line is, in my opinion, misguided and, unfortunately, continues to be advocated under a new name and supported by the current [Obama] administration," David Magill, the Lab School's director, wrote.

The battle against testing hasn't only taken off in Seattle and Chicago, but also in Texas and Portland, Oregon.

CTU President Karen Lewis, speaking at a a meeting in Chicago on the fight against standardized testing with Jesse Hagopian, a teacher from the school that first began boycotting a standardized test, said that both she and Hagopian were seeing the same trends in their school districts.

"We were listening to the same stories," said Lewis, "about how gentrification was pushing school closings in black neighborhoods. You tend to think that it's only happening to you. We are experiencing the injustice, and then finding out there is a play book; they have a playbook."

"Data driven" education seeks only conformity, standardization, testing and a zombie-like adherence to the shallow and generic Common Core, along with a lockstep of oversimplified so-called Essential Learnings. Creativity, academic freedom, teacher autonomy, experimentation and innovation are being stifled in a misguided effort to fix what is not broken in our system of public education and particularly not at Westhill.

"There is a much larger issue of complete divestment from these communities," said Johnson. "Our stance is that we are protecting public education as well as community stability and working-class families."

Yana Kunichoff is a Chicago-based journalist covering immigration, labor, housing and social movements. Her work has appeared in the Chicago Reporter, Truthout and the American Independent, among other publications. She can be reached at yanakunichoff at gmail.com.

But the fight isn't only defensive. Students, teachers and parents are also behind a movement that is pushing for things they want from education, as well as trying to stop the measures - like the closures - that they oppose.

The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is one of More Than a Score's supporters and has said that it wholeheartedly supports the fight against non-state standardized tests, a position that Jen Johnson, a history teacher at Lincoln Park High School and a member of the Caucus of Rank and File Educators (CORE) steering committee, says is part of the CTU's larger goal of social justice unionism.

"It's fairly safe to say that school closings are more than a bread-and-butter battle," and so are issues of over-testing, said Johnson.

Testing Hits a Nerve

Chicago is not the first city to have a not-so-subterranean rumble against testing. That mantle goes to Seattle, where one high school's boycott of the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test in January opened the door to letters of solidarity from around the country and a growing consensus that students may be over-tested.

Johnson attributes the rising anger at testing to the "rapid escalation of the use of testing. It has been strong-armed into schools across the country," and how it is "being used to blame all the stakeholders."

Under NCLB, states were required to develop math and reading standards and test children in grades 3 through 8. NCLB also requires schools to "disaggregate" the testing data, a process PBS describes as "designed to close the so-called 'achievement gap' between highly proficient students and under-served, less proficient students by eliminating distortions and variations masked by school-wide averages."

But in her experience, says Johnson, the testing regime only perpetuates inequalities.

Research on standardized testing and inequality has found testing reinforces inequality. Paul Thomas of Furman University has been vocal about tests as a reflection of socioeconomic conditions and says that the emphasis on testing legitimizes this inequality of opportunity.

Rather than receiving the counseling and learning that vulnerable students need, says Johnson, they are given stressful tests, for which teachers in turn face harsh judgment when results are not satisfactory.

"Measuring outcomes through standardized testing and referring to those results as the evidence of learning and the bottom line is, in my opinion, misguided and, unfortunately, continues to be advocated under a new name and supported by the current [Obama] administration," David Magill, the Lab School's director, wrote.

The battle against testing hasn't only taken off in Seattle and Chicago, but also in Texas and Portland, Oregon.

CTU President Karen Lewis, speaking at a a meeting in Chicago on the fight against standardized testing with Jesse Hagopian, a teacher from the school that first began boycotting a standardized test, said that both she and Hagopian were seeing the same trends in their school districts.

"We were listening to the same stories," said Lewis, "about how gentrification was pushing school closings in black neighborhoods. You tend to think that it's only happening to you. We are experiencing the injustice, and then finding out there is a play book; they have a playbook."

"Data driven" education seeks only conformity, standardization, testing and a zombie-like adherence to the shallow and generic Common Core, along with a lockstep of oversimplified so-called Essential Learnings. Creativity, academic freedom, teacher autonomy, experimentation and innovation are being stifled in a misguided effort to fix what is not broken in our system of public education and particularly not at Westhill.

"There is a much larger issue of complete divestment from these communities," said Johnson. "Our stance is that we are protecting public education as well as community stability and working-class families."

Yana Kunichoff is a Chicago-based journalist covering immigration, labor, housing and social movements. Her work has appeared in the Chicago Reporter, Truthout and the American Independent, among other publications. She can be reached at yanakunichoff at gmail.com.